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Vladimir Ivashko
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada
In office 4 June 1990 – 9 July 1990
Succeeded by	Leonid Kravchuk
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
In office 24 August 1991 – 29 August 1991
Preceded by	Mikhail Gorbachev
Succeeded by	Post abolished
Born	28 October, 1932 Poltava, Ukrainian SSR
Died	13 November 1994 (aged 62) Moscow, Russia
Political party	Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Religion	None (Atheist)

Vladimir Antonovich Ivashko (Russian: Владимир Антонович Ивашко Ukrainian: Володимир Антонович Івашко) (28 October 1932 — 13 November 1994), was briefly the acting General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the period from August 24, 1991 to August 29, 1991. On August 24, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned, and on August 29 the CPSU was suspended by the USSR Supreme Soviet. Before becoming General Secretary he had been Gorbachev's deputy within the Party, a newly created position as a result of the 28th Congress of the CPSU.

The Communist Party in between Gorbachev's resignation and its suspension was politically impotent. By the time of the 28th Congress in July 1990, the party was largely regarded as being unable to lead the country and had, in fifteen republics, split into opposing factions favouring either independent republics or the continuation of the Soviet Union. Stripped of its leading role in society the party lost its authority to lead the nation or the cohesion that kept the party united. Actual political power lay in the positions of President of the Soviet Union (held by Gorbachev) and President of the Russian SFSR (held by Yeltsin). During the August coup he did not make public statements but on behalf of the Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee distributed letters to local party organizations calling on them to uphold the CPSU.

Ivashko briefly held the post of the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukrainian SSR from June 4 through July 9, 1990. He retired in 1992.

v • d • e Leaders of Ukraine West Ukrainian National Republic (1918–1919) Kost Levytsky · Yevhen Petrushevych Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–1920) Mykhailo Hrushevskyi · Volodymyr Vynnychenko · Symon Petliura (Holovnyi Otaman) Hetmanate (1918) Pavlo Skoropadskyi Government-in-exile of the Ukranian People's Republic (1920–1992) Andriy Livytskyi · Stepan Vytvytskyi · Mykola Livytskyi · Mykola Plaviuk Ukrainian Independent Government (1941) Yaroslav Stetsko First Secretaries of the Communist party of the Ukrainian SSR (1917–1991) Georgy Pyatakov · Stanislav Kosior · Dmitry Manuilsky · Emmanuil Kviring · Lazar Kaganovich · Stanislav Kosior · Nikita Khrushchev · Lazar Kaganovich · Nikita Khrushchev · Leonid Melnikov · Alexei Kirichenko · Nikolai Podgorny · Petro Shelest · Volodymyr Shcherbytsky · Volodymyr Ivashko · Stanislav Gurenko Presidents of Ukraine (since 1991) Leonid Kravchuk · Leonid Kuchma · Viktor Yushchenko

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